The past few days had been hectic for Brandon and India. First of all they had been extracted by helicopter to an airfield on a scientific base a few hundred miles away on the Antarctic coast and then, as soon as the weather had allowed, they had been flown to Mount Pleasant airbase on the Falkland Islands. A thorough debrief followed where India was reminded of the constraints of the Official Secrets Act before finally they were flown to Ascension Island in the mid-Atlantic. Though they were offered a flight back to Britain, they opted for two cabins on a passing cruise ship and spent the few days it took to reach Britain recovering both mentally and physically.
The night before they were due to dock they sat at a table for two in the dining room, contemplating the events of the past few weeks.
‘So what do you make of it all?’ asked Brandon.
‘I’m not sure,’ said India, aimlessly stirring her coffee. ‘We started out chasing a crucifix and ended up in a secret Nazi base at the end of the earth. It’s all a bit much to take in, I suppose.’
‘What did you make of Station 211?’
‘Well, on the one hand, the world needs to know about what happened down there, but on the other hand I can see the upset it will cause.’
‘You do realise you can’t tell anyone?’
‘Yes, I know,’ sighed India, ‘and I probably won’t, it’s just…’
‘It’s just what?’ asked Brandon when her sentence tailed off to nothing.
‘All those stolen treasures are still out there,’ said India. ‘They belong to the world and shouldn’t be locked in some icy tomb in the middle of nowhere.’
‘Wait a minute,’ said Brandon. ‘You don’t actually believe all that crap about Nazi treasure and Hitler’s corpse, do you?’
‘Don’t you, Brandon?’
‘No I bloody don’t,’ he said, ‘it’s nothing but bullshit as far as I’m concerned.’
‘What about the mummies?’
‘We never actually saw any down there,’ he said, ‘for all we know that Monty guy is nothing short of a fruitcake.’
‘And what about the ones we found in our U-boat?’
‘I don’t have the answer to that,’ said Brandon, ‘except to say, we don’t really know how the crucifix ended up on that boat. For all we know, Castro could have been lying and he bought it at auction.’
‘I don’t agree,’ said India, ‘I think everything we have seen or heard is true.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Brandon, ‘we’ll have to disagree on this, it’s all just a bit too far-fetched for me.’
‘Well in that case,’ said India, ‘there’s no point in telling you Eichman’s last words then, is there?’
Bandon fell silent and placed his own coffee back on the table.
‘What did he say?’ he asked.
‘Do you really want to know?’
‘You know I do.’
‘OK,’ she said, ‘I’ll tell you. But only to wipe that know-it-all smile off your face. With his dying breath, that man’s last words were, “We found him, India. The Icon is there.”’
A few seconds passed as the words sunk in but eventually Brandon shook his head.
‘Just words, India,’ he said, ‘nothing but words.’
‘It was a dying man’s last words,’ said India. ‘Why would he lie?’
‘I don’t know, but words are not proof.’
‘I held his hand, Brandon…’ she started.
‘I’m sorry, India,’ he said, ‘I just can’t accept it.’
‘I was going to say,’ said India, with an edge to her voice, ‘I held his hand and something else happened. Something that proves it is all true.’
‘What?’ asked Brandon. ‘I never saw anything.’
India smiled and stood up.
‘Ever the sceptic, Brandon Walker,’ she said. ‘You always need physical proof of everything. You should learn to trust your instincts in this as well as other things. If it’s proof you want, I’ll give it to you. He didn’t just hold my hand, Brandon, he gave me something.’ She held out her hand and placed something in his, closing his fingers around it. Her hand lingered gently around his and her eyes peered deep into his for a few seconds longer than was appropriate.
‘Learn to trust your instincts, Brandon,’ she said. ‘Take a chance sometimes, or opportunity may just pass us by.’ With that she walked out of the dining room, leaving Brandon sitting at the table.
Slowly he opened his hand and gasped in amazement. Sitting in the palm of his hand was a silver ring with a crest in the form of a skull. India was right, the stories were true. Meister and his men must have found the Icon before dying for their cause.
Finally he stood up to leave, but as he did he saw India had left her spare cabin key on the table. For a moment he thought it was just an accident but then remembered her last words as she left.
‘Trust your instincts, Brandon,’ she had said. ‘Take a chance sometimes, or opportunity may just pass us by.’
Us, she had said, not you, but us.
He knew he had reached a turning point. One way or another, the time had come to make a decision about how he felt about India. Was the opportunity of something more, something wonderful, worth the risk of losing their friendship, or had he read the signals wrong?
He paused at the entrance of the corridor leading to the cabins. His room was far down to the left while India’s was at the end of the corridor to the right. If he turned left, he might never have this opportunity again, but if he turned right, this could possibly be the last adventure he would share with India Summers.
For what seemed like an age he deliberated, but finally, and with a deep breath, he made his decision.